( VIOLENCE )

𝐱𝐱.

( flashback1 )

THE FIFTEEN YEAR OLD BOY peered up at his parents that only stood in front of him with the largest smiles on their faces while his remained stoic. He was finally off to a new prestigious school for very smart kids his age, and they couldn't help but be excited for their only son. They couldn't really tell if he was excited or not either, but since he wasn't protesting against the new school they were sending him off to, they just assumed he was fine with it.

"I can't believe this!! Time flies by so fast!" The dark haired woman shot her hands out to her son that only tugged his head away from her, the only expression showed on his face being disgust by what his mother just tried to do.

His father chuckled at the look against his son's face while he only placed a gentle hand on the mothers arm, his smile growing, "I know.. It's like tomorrow he'll be off to college..!"

The teen still didn't say anything. He only looked at them with a bored expression on his features. He tried to make it clear that he was ready to go, but they weren't getting the hint at all.

His parents never really questioned the lack of emotion or empathy that came from their son because they were one hundred percent convinced he was fine all because they had money and spoiled him, so they just left him alone to be. They knew that something was different about their child, but they just decided to ignore the signs. Little did they know that not getting him the help he needed would hurt others around him.

"Oh, shit! There's your bus Phoenix!! Off to school!" The mother chirped out as she piped up at the sound of the school bus hitting her ears, making the dark haired boy turn on his heel.

Phoenix listened to his parents goodbyes, but he didn't give them any in return. All he did was leave out of the front door with his eyes set on the bus that wasn't too far from his home.

He glanced behind himself, only to see that his parents weren't standing right at the door, and that's when a smirk formed over his lips. He had an evil plan in his mind, and he knew he was going to go through with it.

All he did was quicken up his pace of walking while his blue eyes continued to linger on the bus that had a bunch of kids already walking onto the steps with looks of excitement forming over their features.

Walking beginning to slow down once he noticed that his house was out of his eye sight, he completely stopped in his tracks before he stuffed both of his hands into his pockets, the smirk dropping from his lips as he waited and waited for something to come.

After a few minutes of waiting, the dark haired boy saw a familiar red haired teen jogging up to him with his own dark backpack against his bag, his breaths being heavy as he grew even closer and closer to an expressionless Phoenix.

"You're late." Phoenix spat out to the ginger that only took his last steps before he slammed his hands onto each of his knees while he bent over with heaves, gasps, and long sighs leaving himself because of the running he'd just done.

He tried to act like the running didn't affect him that much, but his taller friend could see right through him even if he didn't mention anything about it, "I... I'm.. S-Sorry!! We both... know.. I don't run that well!"

Looking his friend up and down as the wind caused his soft dark hair to hit against his face, Phoenix then pulled his hands out of his pockets with a soft sigh by his exhausted friend in front of him, "It's not that you don't run well. It's that you don't run enough."

"I.. know!" Was all the shorter boy replied with before he heard Phoenix speak out to him once again.

"You need to gain weight. You look malnourished." August snapped his face up to the long haired boy with a gasp, only making Phoenix pipe up by what he'd just said, "I don't mean to hurt your feelings... But seriously. Look in the mirror for once."

Finally pushing himself up off of his knees before he crossed his arms with a frown at his friends, he clenched his jaw, "Hey! That's not nice to say!!"

"I know, that's exactly why I said it. Now let's go have some fun..!!"

The two young boys sat on random logs as they looked around at the scene in front of them, silently admiring it. They were in some random forest they'd never seen before, and they didn't even know why. They were most likely risking their spots at the school they'd both managed to get into, and while the ginger was extremely upset at that, Phoenix didn't care at all. He loved taking risks, even if they'd ruined his life.

Turning to the redhead that chewed on a snack bar he'd gotten from his backpack, the older teen pointed to his own dark blue backpack that sat in front of the both of them, "Can you pass me my bag?"

August nodded his head at his friend before he paused, his eyes still on the matching backpacks not too far from the both of them, "Wait... Which ones yours...?"

"I don't know. It was your idea to match." Phoenix shrugged with a slight chuckle that caused August to roll his dark eyes at him before he stood up to his feet with a small yawn that could be heard by the other teen.

He began making his way towards the two bags until he noticed that his zipper was still open from when he'd got the little snack, so then he turned to the other bag and grabbed it before he turned back on his heel and say beside his friend, them now sharing the log.

Without giving his friend a little thank you or anything of the sort, Phoenix place his fingers on his zipped before he opened his bag while he scooted closer to the redhead, only causing him to grow intrigued by why his he was getting so close to him.

August only kept his eyes on the blue eyed teen in front of him in confusion, until he heard the next thing that came from him, "Look in the bag you fucking idiot."

The redhead flinched for a second before he whipped his head down into his bag, his blood running cold at what he saw. There was a gun just laying there, and he found it dangerous since it was Phoenix of all people that had it.

"Wanna use it with me?" He heard his friend murmur with a sinister look growing on his features.

Turning his dark eyes back onto his friend with panic running through his veins and fear being clear over his face, he shook his head from side to side, "What? Are you crazy?? No! This is not-"

"You are so lame... I'm not gonna do anything wrong. I just wanna play cops and robbers with you...! I'll be the cop, you'll be the robber!"

"No... I-I'll be the cop!"

"No I'm always the cop."

Staring dead into his best friends eyes with a grunt leaving his lips, he slumped over, knowing that he couldn't ever back down since he was sure something bad was going to happen. He had a bad feeling in his stomach that he didn't tell Phoenix about, "Fine..."

August saw the smile that played at Phoenixes lips as he tossed his bag to the side of him while he snatched out the gun, startling the redhead even more, "Okay, cool.. You go hide while I aim for you. I'm not actually gonna shoot you though, alright?"

"A-Alright..!" The shorter teen squeaked out before he took some steps back, preparing himself to hide from the psychotic boy.